


Self-Preservation

by IHScribe



Category: Hannibal (TV), White Collar
Genre: Gen, Neal Caffrey before he was Neal Caffrey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 22:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHScribe/pseuds/IHScribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before he was Neal, or even any of the other aliases Peter and Moz were aware of, Neal Caffrey met a man he would never try to con.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Self-Preservation

**Author's Note:**

> Fandoms: White Collar, Hannibal
> 
> Characters: Neal Caffrey, Hannibal Lecter
> 
> Prompt: One person he's got too much self-preservation to pull a con on
> 
> Prompt Made By: I. H. Scribe
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the following series(es) or any character(s) that follow, and unless I. H. Scribe is listed after Prompt Made By chances are I don't own the idea for this story either.

Before he was Neal, or even any of the other aliases Peter and Moz were aware of, Neal Caffrey met a man he would never try to con. Not that he couldn't do it. Even before he started forging, he was an excellent con artist and thief. He could have taken that man for everything he had, and then some.

It wasn't the job that put him off – it was the man himself.

Neal had been running a con on a nice old lady, who had taken him in when he made his best kicked puppy look. She was kind enough, that Neal planned to leave her things mostly alone, settling for stealing from her similarly rich friends instead. She liked to lavish him with expensive gifts, like trips to the opera, where she introduced Neal to  _him_.

Hannibal Lecter was a (very) well off surgeon-turned-psychiatrist. Neal's research even ferreted out that he was – technically still – titled in Lithuania. He wore a mask even more intensive than any of the ones Neal wore.

It was what was behind that mask that scared Neal.

The mask hid a predator – a hunter who always got his prey. A single glance at Neal, and the man had seen through his own mask, and rather than be worried, or alarmed, he became amused.  _I know who you are. I know what you're planning._  – that look said –  _You'll never escape me if you try._

Neal left the DC area the next day, and wouldn't return for anything.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I am accepting prompts on Fanfiction.net and Livejournal. For more information on prompts, click [here for FF.net](http://www.fanfiction.net/u/5241068/) and go to the Accepting Prompts Section, or click [here for livejournal](http://ihscribe.livejournal.com/557.html) and see the Accepting Prompts post.


End file.
